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Arts & Entertainment

The Family in Plays Together Stays Together

The Laughbaums star in a floating marriage musical, "Once Upon a Wedding."

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Daisy Dudley and Davis Do-Wright.

What’s that? You say you don’t know them? Don’t worry, you’ll be best buds by the end of the evening, what with the hors d’oeuvres, champagne toast, three-course dinner, dancing and wedding cake. Oh, and did I mention the boat? You’ll be sailing around picturesque Mission Bay the whole time on the sternwheeler William D. Evans.

Welcome to the world of Once Upon a Wedding, a musical theater creation dreamed up by Lisa Laughbaum of Laughing Tree Productions. As with many weddings—both real and imagined—what should be the happiest day of the bride and groom’s lives turns into a mishmash of mishaps and mayhem.

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Here, the wedding coordinator, minister and wedding party went to the wrong bay. So it’s up to the wedding coordinator-in-training (played by Laughbaum’s 14-year-old son, Ian) and the wedding singer (Laughbaum herself) to keep the evening from becoming a complete catastrophe, by enlisting the participation of the guests. They’re thwarted at every turn, by the shenanigans of Daisy’s wacky relatives and the wedding musician (Laughbaum’s husband, Mike).

So this family affair actually IS a family affair.

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The Laughbaums spread themselves around the county. Mom Lisa has taught music in Encinitas for more than 20 years. Son Ian has been active in J*Company Youth Theatre musical productions in La Jolla. And husband Michael teaches for the Improv Traffic School in Carlsbad.

Lisa is admittedly “an amazing multitasker” who spends her mornings at Encinitas preschools, presenting her Children’s Music Workshop, a music appreciation program she created after she graduated from UC San Diego in 1990. Her 10-CD collection (“one for every month of the school year”) is selling well on Amazon and iTunes (under the name of Miss Lisa). She also has a children’s theater video business, and part of her Emmy-nominated cable TV show can be viewed online by searching for “Little Red Caboose.”

In the afternoons, she teaches piano at her Encinitas studio. And on weekends, she and her husband are the house band, B Natural, on the paddlewheeler Bahia Belle, where they’ve spent every Friday and Saturday night for 21 years. He plays guitar; she plays percussion and sings a dance-tune mix of blues, rock, reggae and a little disco.

Mike home-schools Ian, who’s in ninth grade and has been acting since he was 4 years old. He plays several instruments and sings with the J*Company’s “ambassador” group, On the Town. Ian plans to take a music class at Palomar College in the spring. Meanwhile, several times a month, Mike makes people laugh and learn while they’re doing their traffic school time.

And once a month (once a week last summer), the whole family comes together for Once Upon a Wedding, which incorporates well-known songs into the wacky plotline.

“I’m very proud of it,” Lisa said. “It’s different from other entertainments out there. It’s not a murder mystery. And it’s not crude like Tony and Tina’s Wedding [one of the first of the long-running interactive environmental theater shows].

“It’s a unique experience, just like being at a real wedding. The Bahia Resort provides white-glove service and an amazing dinner. You’re partying, dancing, and you can go upstairs on the deck and enjoy the view. The boat is gorgeous. The performers are seasoned actors.

“It’s totally family-friendly, as fun for kids as for grandparents,” says Lisa. “My goal is for people to come out feeling good about their partner and their family. All You Need Is Love ends the second act, and that about says it all.”

 

Once Upon a Wedding runs monthly aboard the William D. Evans sternwheeler outside the Bahia Resort, 998 W. Mission Bay Dr.

The next performances are Thursday, Nov. 10, and Dec. 15. The evening runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Tickets ($35-55) can be purchased at onceuponaweddingthemusical.com. Further information is at 858-539-7667.

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